All the reasons I hate 3d movies

I hate 3d movies. I try to avoid them, but for one reason or another I find myself at a 3d screening two or three times a year. And every time I remember all the reasons I hate them. They are as follows.

1. Strains my eyes, gives me a headache.

When I settle down in a cool, dark room to enjoy a movie at the theater, I don’t want to have to do any more work than is necessary. Moving the muscles in your eyes that allow you change focus is work. Bottom line. If you want to look at something in the background, the ciliary muscle must change the shape of your lens. This constant focusing and re-focusing of the lens strains my eyes.

I also end up missing details. If the scene is fast-moving, there’s not enough time to change focus before the shot changes, and I miss the details that are out of focus. When I watch a movie, I want to set the focus of my eyes, let them relax, and not adjust the settings for 2 hours. Call me lazy, but all that straining gives me a headache.

2. Changes the color, darkens the image.

3d glasses darken the image on screen. Movie people are aware of this, and in turn brighten the image to compensate. This doesn’t always fix the problem. The most recent 3d movie I saw, Zootopia, had many dark scenes in which I struggled to make out the shapes and characters. Sometimes the brightness can be too bright and the image appears washed out.

The color can also be slightly altered. Zootopia is an animated movie, but I don’t remember it being particularly vibrant. The 3d glasses seemed to mute the color tones.

I’m not sure what could be done to fix these problems, nor do I really care, because 3d blows.

It’s cool for about 4 minutes (basically the length of the previews), then it’s annoying and I want to leave. 3d movies are a lame gimmick. I’m at a movie theater, not a Disney World attraction. Get rid of this garbage.